So, the Microsoft announcement - taking place as I write this, 01:45 in my timezone - turns out to be a bigger deal than expected. Microsoft just announced it's going full-on hardware - the company announced a new tablet called 'Surface', and boy, is this thing something to behold. Microsoft's hardware partners? They're not happy right now. Update: Here's Microsoft's official Surface site. I believe someone coined the phrase 'sexy as a succubus' in the comments about Vizio? Stealin' it! Update II: They aren't just taking the iPad head-on - this is a straight-up MacBook Air competitor.

You may already have forgotten, but before the Surface Tablet, Microsoft created the Surface Table. Remember the price?

10.000$.

And don't begin to tell me "it's bigger so it's normal to be so expensive". Miniaturization is expensive.

What does Microsoft have that other OEMs dont?

Billions of dollars of cash from years of a successful monopoly in business and consumer software?

Since when does Apple pull out ultra-sleek monobloc devices made of glass and alloys? Since they got successfull with the iPod and iTunes and got enough money to overstep competition, pay upfront for whole factories, hundreds of machining machines, tons of rare materials. The OEM are all clinging to razor-thin margins - the result of competition. Disruption is coming from outside of the OEM battlefield, from players armored with tons of cash (earned elsewhere) ready to be poured and lost. If the surface tablet fails, the impact on MS margins will be negligible. What OEM can say that?

You may already have forgotten, but before the Surface Tablet, Microsoft created the Surface Table. Remember the price?

10.000$.

And don't begin to tell me "it's bigger so it's normal to be so expensive". Miniaturization is expensive.

Surface (the table) used fundamentally different technology, and still does on a product thats not mass audience viable yet, so economies of scale don't drive prices down.

In fact, the Surface (table) 2 came down in price significantly. Half the cost of the original.

Since when does Apple pull out ultra-sleek monobloc devices made of glass and alloys? Since they got successfull with the iPod and iTunes and got enough money to overstep competition, pay upfront for whole factories, hundreds of machining machines, tons of rare materials. The OEM are all clinging to razor-thin margins - the result of competition. Disruption is coming from outside of the OEM battlefield, from players armored with tons of cash (earned elsewhere) ready to be poured and lost. If the surface tablet fails, the impact on MS margins will be negligible. What OEM can say that?

That grants them some leeway, but the truth is that a lot of what they've done is inexcusable. The pure amount of bullshit they load onto devices is abhorrent and they suck at software, yet insist on forcing it down users throats.

The terrible experience doesn't end at the hardware, it runs wholly through the software and corrupts otherwise decent platforms (Android stock for example).

I'm sorry, but I can't blame Microsoft for being fed up with OEMs shopping around form factors from 2002 Tablet PCs.